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Email Infidelity in a Computer Forensics Investigation Case Study

Email Infidelity in a Computer Forensics Investigation: The boyfriend was very emotional at the thought of being betrayed by his love of many years.

Summary:

A devoted boyfriend had
a sneaking suspicion that his girlfriend of many years was cheating on him. The
couple shared a computer for many of their activities: work, games, and
Internet, so when the boyfriend saw what he thought was an e-mail from another
man in his girlfriend’s in-box, he was furious. When he accessed the account,
there was no such message, but he was sure that his eyes had not been playing
tricks on him.

The boyfriend contacted International Counterintelligence Services, Inc., in
the hopes that they could get to the bottom of this dilemma. During the free consultation with a
trained case analysis, the boyfriend expressed his concerns. The case analysis and
the client concluded they would need to call upon the help of the ICS computer
forensics technicians.

Now, the boyfriend was very emotional at the thought betrayal. He thought that
he would have to fight his fears alone, without the full knowledge of the
situation. But he luckily had the strength of a reputable investigative company
(and our infidelity private investigator) who would help him get though the
crisis.

The investigation began
with the client bringing in the laptop computer that the couple shared. He was
able to leave it for examination in the computer forensics lab. The computer
was first examined for any signs of physical bugging devices. Once assured that
it had not been tampered with, the hard drive was removed and forensically
“imaged” as an exact replica of the original hard drive. This copied image is
where the computer forensic technicians would perform the investigation. This
work was all done on the same day in order to have the computer back home, so
the client’s girlfriend would be none the wiser to the investigation. From here
the case manager was in steady contact with the client so he would know the
progress of the investigation. The scope of the investigation would concentrate
on any e-mail of notable content.

This investigation would prove to be more
difficult than first thought, however, because the e-mail system that the
couple was using was not a host-based system. This means that it was not a
program that was used on the laptop computer, but instead was a Web-based system.
Web e-mail, although popular, poses difficulty for forensic technicians
recovering deleted messages. Nevertheless, with great effort they found what
they had been looking for. The technicians discovered a series of unmarked
archived files that were left by the e-mail program on the computer’s hard
drive, even though the files had been deleted – or so the girlfriend thought.
Adding another twist to the investigation, these e-mails had been created under
a dummy account so as to separate them from on the girlfriend’s main e-mail
account.

Conclusion:

Since the files had been
compressed they had to be transformed and viewed in a special manner to see the
true content. They exposed multiple conversations pointing to betrayal on the
part of the girlfriend. The discovered messages were compiled and the case
manager immediately contacted the client. The client, although he had a dilemma
to face, was very grateful for the hard work that the ICS team had done for
him. This was a credit to the well-trained case analyst, case managers, and
forensic technicians at ICS.

What to do next:

If you are facing a
similar situation or looking for any type of investigation to be done, contact
us for a free consultation. No case is too big or too small, we will work
with you to get the same positive results. Our licensed and trained
professionals are on call 24 hours a day at toll free (800) 828-9198 or you can
also contact
ICS online.

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ICS or International Counterintelligence Services refers to one or more of the associations, companies, or affiliates operating under the ICS or International Counterintelligence Services trade name. Each ICS company is independently owned and operated. Each ICS company is individually responsible for providing client services and for any errors and omissions therefrom.